Month: January 2017

“Once there was a righteous king who had three sons. When each of these sons grew to a certain age this king handed them their own special chalice. It was with this cup that they were taught to enter the courtyard and drink of a special geyser, a fountain walled off within the palace of the kingdom.

“Each day, one by one, the sons would walk through their father’s house and come to the courtyard where they would drink their fill and then go about their business the rest of the day. They paid little mind to the habit but continued in gratefulness to be welcomed to the fountain. You see, it was because of this special water that the sons of the king grew mighty and each in different ways. The first son grew strong and became renown through the city for his feats of strength. The second son grew cunning, he gave riddles and advice to all the citizens who waited in long lines to listen to him. The third son played inconceivable music that left whole audiences in wonder, his music was the soundtrack and mood-setter for the entire kingdom.

“Still, each day these three sons came and drank at their father’s house by the cup he had given them. They did not leave the kingdom, because they did not wish to be far from this fountain. It was only in drinking from the spring that they continued in their renown, in their giftedness.

“However, due to the prestige of the kingdom its citizens grew and grew. The mighty work of the sons meant that strangers and new citizens were added to the point that the kingdom grew and grew. The king knew the method of blessing his sons in this way; in his courts their cups were always overflowing. Through a simple chalice, he grew a mighty kingdom.”

We are saved by grace through faith which means we must not trust in ourselves but put all of our reliance on another: Christ. It’s for this reason “that we often fail in lesser conflicts and stand firm in greater, because in the lesser we rest more in ourselves, in the greater we fly to the rock of our salvation, which is higher than we” just as David writes in Psalm 62.[1]

The beauty of trusting in Christ is that he is a fountain of grace. There is no sin that we commit for which he cannot save us. His cross is eternal, his grace is eternal, his blessing eternal. Very often we forget these things and dwell outside the walls of his blessing. But he saved us that we would trust solely in him and be blessed solely for him. To be blessed by Jesus is to carry the fortunes and prestige of a kingdom that will never be shaken. This is the drink we offer.

Remember the words of our Lord in John 4:14: “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” And if this spring within you is to overflow…it must do so, spreading to all who are thirsty!

We are given a heaping cup of blessing. There is no country, no city, only the vast kingdom of the universe. Our father calls us to bear his love (especially in those time where bearing love is also bearing a cross). It is the greatest gift he can give us to allow his grace to be seen in our lives by those we meet. We are the voice our King uses to call people to become citizens of the everlasting kingdom. How weak and frail our own voice is compared with the voice that gives water to the thirsty, love to the loveless, hope to the hopeless. Let us pray this week, let us re-devote ourselves this week, to be those set apart to make Christ’s kingdom ever-visible in our communities.

Let us pray that we rest in Christ this week and pray, that in that rest, we overflow as blessing to others. Pray to be a fountain of Christ.